Introduction, history, scope and present status of Pharmacognosy

1. Introduction of
Pharmacognosy
Asst.professor:- Gayatri Patra
East point college of pharmacy

2. Introduction:-
 Term pharmacognosy is the combination of two words Pharmakon
(drug) and Gnosis (Knowledge) i.e. knowledge of drugs.
 Pharmacognosy is systematic study of crude drugs obtained from
natural origin like plant, animal and minerals.
 Pharmacognosy can be defined as branch of science which involves
detail study of drugs obtained from natural origin including name,
habitat, collection, cultivation, macroscopy, microscopy, physical
properties, chemical constituents, therapeutic actions, uses and
adulterants.
 Initially in 19th century the term ‘Materia Medica’ was used for the
subject now known as pharmacognosy.
 Papyrus Ebers – Oldest document containing 700 medicinal herbs and
more than 870 formula.
 Treatises dealing with Ayurveda – Charaka Samhita and Sushrutha
Samhita.

3. S.No. SCIENTIST CONTRIBUTION
1. Charaka Father of Ayurveda
2. Hippocrates Father of Medicine
3. Galen First Pharmacist
4. Aristotle Father of natural science
5. Seydler Coined the term pharmacognosy (1815)
6. Pelletier Isolated strychnine and quinine
7. Sertuerner Isolated morphine from opium
8. Stas and Otto Developed new process of extraction of alkaloids.

4. Present Status of Pharmacognosy
 Herbal medication has gained importance in recent years because of their
effectuality and cost effectiveness.
 The systematic study of Pharmacognosy provides a new space of analysis,
starting from work the biologically active principles of phytomedicines and
their mode of action and potential drug interactions, to internal control and
involvement in clinical trials.
 From the past many years various novel compounds are isolated from marine
organism that shows effective biological activities.
 In 20th centuries cod liver oil from cod fish was isolated and use as
supplementary nourishment.Even during the years 2008-2017, about 50% of
bacterial isolates revealed antibiotic activity against Gram-positive and Gram-
negative strains.
 As per AYUSH, some important herbals such as; Curcuma longa, Emblica
oficinalis, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellerica, Glycyrrhiza glabra,
Zingiber officinale, Coriandrum sativum, Withania somnifera, Piper longa ect.
Are important for COVID-19 virus management.

5.  Due to fewer side effects and low toxicity, many traditional plants are
established scientifically for effective treatment of many chronic diseases.
Many weeds and neglected plants are having multiple therapeutic applications
such as;
S.No. Crude drugs Treatment
1. Spiny amaranth Ulcerated mouth, ulcers and sores
2. Mexican poppy Cure pneumonia, acts as anti-
inflammatory
3. Sleeping beauty Anaemia , cancer,piles
4. Kans grass Antioxidant, antihypertension
5. Congress grass Fever , diarrhoea, neurologic disorders.

6.  The omic technology is mainly used for identificartion of biomedical
resources. This technologies such as proteomics, metabonomics,
transcriptomics, etc.
 Provide depth knowledge of pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and
toxicological characterization of active constituent of an herbal plant.
 Nicotiana tabacum and Artemisia annua plantlets are cultured in 3-D printed
vessels and demonstrated that optimal light spectra of LED light provide
optimum in vitro plant growth.
 Not only marine or plant species, even microorganisms also play vital role in
drug discovery as antibiotics. Recently, Black fungus infection spreaded in
2021 which is treated with Amphotericin B, was isolated from Streptomyces
nodosus.

7. Scope of pharmacognosy
Pharmacognosy has an important role in the development of
different sciences:
 The pharmacognosist should know terms covered under botany and
Zoology
 The knowledge of plant taxonomy, plant breeding, and plant
genetics is helpful in the development of cultivation technology
for medicinal plants
 Plant chemistry (Phytochemistry) is concerned with the variety of
substances that are synthesized and accumulated by plants and
deals with the structural elucidation of these substances.
 The technology involved in the extraction, purification, and
characterization of pharmaceuticals from natural sources helps in
the advancements of natural and physical sciences.
 The knowledge of chemotaxonomy, biogenetic pathways for the
formation of medicinally active primary and secondary metabolites
is important for a complete understanding of the subject
‘Pharmacognosy’
 Pharmacognosy is an important link between Pharmacology and
Medicinal chemistry. As a result of the rapid development of plant
chemistry and pharmacological testing methods, new plant drugs are
now used as purified phytochemicals. The knowledge of pharmacology
is essential for understanding the action of the drug on animals
and human systems.
 Pharmacognosy is a vital link between Ayurvedic and allopathic
systems of medicines.